L to R: Congress President Rahul Gandhi along with Ashish Deshmukh at Sevagram yesterday

NAGPUR: Staunch supporter of separate Vidarbha, Ashish Deshmukh shared stage with Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday afternoon after submitting his resignation from the BJP. Deshmukh, who resigned from the state legislative assembly as well as from the primary membership of the BJP yesterday (October 2), represented Katol constituency in Nagpur.

Deshmukh speaking about his resignation told PTI, “As the BJP has been ignoring the people of India, I am tendering my resignation as an MLA and a member of the BJP.”

The resignation was long overdue as Deshmukh had made his dissent public when he wrote a letter to Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis in December 2017, asking him to become the torchbearer of the separate Vidarbha issue. However, post resignation, it was widely speculated that Deshmukh would join the Congress at Rahul Gandhi’s public meeting in Sevagram yesterday.